Reason Morning Links

- Obama balks on promise to release second set of detainee photos.

- Philadelphia Inquirer hires torture defender John Yoo as a columnist.

- Boy Scouts getting training to fight terrorism, illegal immigration.

- In the midst of global recession, why is Norway's economy thriving?

- Obama considering plan to hold terror suspects indefinitely, and without trial.

- What will you find under the water in New York Harbor?

Comments

[anarch]

Who's guessing how long the new Children's Army will remain voluntary?

If I didn't believe that tranquility is the best way to meet evil, I'd break something.

[hmm]

Jesus Christ. As a past scout and currently working with a local business oriented explorer post that is appalling. The BSA organization has spent years defending against the paramilitary image. I guess I have yet another pissed off letter to write.

Fuck that pisses me off.

[hmm]

There needs to be a limit imposed on Balko's posting times. Nothing before noon. I can't take this shit this early and don't have the self control not to click. I need time to acclimate to the stupid each day. This can't be healthy.

[Heterosexist Every Body]

Obama balks on promise to release second set of detainee photos.

Obama considering plan to hold terror suspects indefinitely, and without trial.

I am beginning to warm up to this president. Now, if he would only take the free market as seriously as he takes security.

[Heterosexist Every Body]

hmm,

I found this Radley post somewhat uplifting and cheerful.

[JP]

Back in the '70s, when I was a Boy Scout, our town (in NJ) also had an Explorers troop associated with the local cops. They used to help direct traffic on Memorial Day and stuff like that.

[MNG]

Today is my Take A Shit on Liberals Day, a day I like to reserve to castigate the stupidity of the side I often find myself defending. OK, to get the ball rolling, let me say that
1. Obama not allowing the letters is bullshit, to borrow a phrase "Yo, fuck Obama" on this issue. Thanks for the "openness" tool! Should have saw this coming when you backed down on state secrets...
2. It's a shame Craigslist folded on this, but I blame the douchebag attorney general Nannys for this. It's bullshit of the highest order. Most people were offering legal services and should not be punished because of some nutcase and a few people who offer illegal (but which should be legal imo) services through it. I mean, people use the phone to conduct illegal business too, but I don't think we need to restrict phone use...

[MNG]

"Heterosexist Every Body"

Methinks he doth protest too much...

[hmm]

Back in the '70s, when I was a Boy Scout, our town (in NJ) also had an Explorers troop associated with the local cops. They used to help direct traffic on Memorial Day and stuff like that.

I don't oppose troops or posts affiliating with the police. I oppose them affiliating with federal agencies and using paramilitary style exercises. The programs were not intended for this and have spent years defending against it. Directing traffic and serving the community is one thing. BSA does not involve tactical training like, "Put him on his face and put a knee in his back," a Border Patrol agent explained. "I guarantee that he'll shut up."

[hmm]

If you want tactical training join ROTC.

[MNG]

"Philadelphia Inquirer hires torture defender John Yoo as a columnist."

Well, I mean, to be fair and balanced you have to have both sides, the torturer and the anti-torturer. In tomorrow's Op/Ed they are running a point/counterpoint on getting raped by Satan. One commentator argues it's pretty awful and beyond the pale to be raped by Satan, the other argues it's a necessary evil, nothing worse than what goes on in fraternity hazing and hey, if getting raped by Satan were necessary to save the nation, what good American wouldn't run to Hades, drop trow and grap his ankles for his nation? I mean, you are a good American, right?

[libertymike]

So glad that I was not a boy scout. Rational, well adjusted kids do not join para military organizations.

[hmm]

So glad that I was not a boy scout. Rational, well adjusted kids do not join para military organizations.

Your troll bait is out of date.

[P Brooks]

? In the midst of global recession, why is Norway's economy thriving?

You sure as hell won't know after reading that piece of fluff.

Fiscal restraint is good; that is why we need an all-encompassing social safety net. Or something.

[P Brooks]

Nice troll, Guy.

[Heterosexist Every Body]

Nice troll, Guy.

That is MNGs only mode.

I like how praise=protest, peace=war, etc. She does have a theme.

[Joel]

One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said ... "I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed," he said.

Yes, Felix. Yes, it does.

[Mad Max]

'The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago . . .'

So it's the Boy Scouts, but it doesn't discriminate in favor of boys. Sounds like liberal heaven.

'Cathy Noriego, also 16, said she was attracted by the guns. The group uses compressed-air guns - known as airsoft guns, which fire tiny plastic pellets - in the training exercises, and sometimes they shoot real guns on a closed range.

'"I like shooting them," Cathy said. "I like the sound they make. It gets me excited."'

On a completely unrelated note:

'Explorers have faced problems over the years. There have been numerous cases over the last three decades in which police officers supervising Explorers have been charged, in civil and criminal cases, with sexually abusing them.

'Several years ago, two University of Nebraska criminal justice professors published a study that found at least a dozen cases of sexual abuse involving police officers over the last decade. Adult Explorer leaders are now required to take an online training program on sexual misconduct.'

Good thing cops aren't priests, or this might have made the papers earlier.

[Art-P.O.G.]

It's a shame Craigslist folded on this, but I blame the douchebag attorney general Nannys for this. It's bullshit of the highest order.

I don't see why you had to wait 'till "Take A Shit on Liberals Day" for this. I thought the Nanny State was a bipartisan effort.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Yes, Felix. Yes, it does.

Nice one, Joel 😀

[R C Dean]

One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said ... "I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed," he said.

The little ones, they make me so proud. He'll go far in my profession.

/wipes tear.

[Pro Libertate]

"[H]old[ing] terror suspects indefinitely, and without trial."

That sounds familiar to me, somehow.

[Satan\'s little bitch]

I'm a good American!

[Jack Thread]

From today's Washington Post:

"The administration's central activity - the political allocation of wealth and opportunity - is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/13/AR2009051303014

[Joel]

R C Dean | May 14, 2009, 11:36am | #
One participant, Felix Arce, 16, said ... "I want to be a lawyer, and this teaches you about how crimes are committed," he said.

The little ones, they make me so proud. He'll go far in my profession.

/wipes tear.

I also have to wipe a tear or two. Not tears of pride, but tears.

[R C Dean]

The administration's central activity - the political allocation of wealth and opportunity - is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.

A little late, WaPo, since promising political allocation of wealth and opportunity was approximately 50% of Obama's campaign (that you supported), but welcome to the party.

[alittlesense]

Possibly, the kids in that Explorer program are kids who grew up not being able to play "War" or "Cowboys and Indians" due to Political Correctness run amuck. Could it be that they are just discovering, at a later age than we did, the fun of shooting at each other and arguing about it that took up so much time of my misspent youth?

[engineer]

"? In the midst of global recession, why is Norway's economy thriving?

You sure as hell won't know after reading that piece of fluff.

Fiscal restraint is good; that is why we need an all-encompassing social safety net. Or something."

I have to admit to some confusion after reading the article as well. Essentially, it says that the Norweigan government does not spend as drunkenly as the U.S. and U.K. governments, and this has helped the country take less of a hit during the downturn, but then goes off on a tangent about the welfare state in Norway.

[Barney Frank]

The strict lending standards in Norway discriminate against low-income and minority borrowers! WAHHH!

[Bruce Wayne]

The harbor is getting crowded. You don't even want to know how much i had to pay Harold to stealth the Batboat and Batsub.

[Jose Rodrigues]

"The harbor is getting crowded. You don't even want to know how much i had to pay Harold to stealth the Batboat and Batsub."

Alfred's dead???

[ev]

norway sounds pretty awesome. 40 percent of spending is too high but the no debt thing is awesome and the fewer hours working and at least it's an efficient safety net, if the article is to believed.

but norway can fucking do it only because their "4.8" million people is smaller population-wise than chicagoland. they don't have to produce anything because they can get it overnighted from germany or us.

oh. 68 bill. doesnt hurt, even if it is state-owned.

still. id live there. better than the 11 trill or whatever the fuck it is debt that is this colossal fuckup.